First Artists Management launch record label for movie and game composers

First Artists Management (FAM)—the international talent agency representing composers and music supervisors—has announced the launch of its interdisciplinary record label First Artists Recordings (FAR). Its debut releases this autumn, by FAM agency clients Joe Wilson and Emily Rice, mark the expansion of the US-based agency with the label spearheaded by its UK based office.

Alongside global distribution partner eOne Music, FAR will release soundtracks and other album projects with a focus on composers working in visual media.

On September 17, the first FAR release is the soundtrack by Joe Wilson to the second season of Emmy-nominated television series Back To Life. From the producers of Fleabag, it is available now on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK, and Showtime in the US. Complementing the show, the soundtrack forms the debut solo project by the London based composer and songwriter best known for his work as one half of Solomon Grey. Wilson’s composer credits include The Casual Vacancy, The Last Post and the iconic opening ident for Vue Cinemas. Along with duo BESS, Wilson is working on other features and releases forthcoming in 2022.

On November 19, FAR is releasing Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner, the debut artist album from rising British talent Emily Rice. Now based in Los Angeles, Rice’s score credits include the multi award-nominated film Miss Juneteenth, Netflix’s The I-Land series and Netflix’s first 4k animation film Sol Levante.

Wilson and Rice are among several British composers signed to FAM, with its wider roster boasting Oscar winners and nominees Carter Burwell, Vangelis and Javier Navarrete through to emerging talent. Recently, FAM’s Hannah Peel was nominated for the 2021 Mercury Prize; coming soon, David Arnold, Blanck Mass and new signing Eimear Noone have nominations at The Ivors, while Benji Merrison and Gavin Brivik are nominated at the World Soundtrack Awards. This week, Toronto Film Festival premieres include scores from FAM clients Alex Baranowski (True Things), CJ Mirra (A Banquet) and Paul Saunderson (Memory Box: Voices of 9/11).

Founded in Los Angeles in 2003, FAM is an independent family-run talent agency specialising in composers for film, television and games. The European office in London was set up by industry veteran Hamish Duff in 2019 to provide a transatlantic approach to its roster of talent.

Hamish Duff, head of FAM’s European office in London, says: “With significant growth of FAM’s business in this territory, our label imprint is the next important step in providing valuable additional services to our clients.

“We’re thrilled to see the fantastic reaction to the second series of Back To Life and proud that the soundtrack scored, supervised and produced by Joe, melds stunningly with the vision of the show’s creator Daisy Haggard, as well as being the first release on FAR.”

Forthcoming activity from the FAM roster includes films and series including Joel Cohen’s Macbeth (scored by Carter Burwell), Marvel’s Morbius (Jon Ekstrand), Neon’s Ted K (Blanck Mass) and BBC series The North Water (Time Hecker).

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